Richard price morgan



(No Model.)

B. P. MORGAN. RAILWAY RAIL JOINT.

PatentedDeo. 24

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD PRICE MORGAN, OF DWIGHT, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE MORGAN RAILJOINT COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

RAI LWAY- RAIL JOINT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 417,739, datedDecember24, 1889.

Application filed April 15, 1889. Serial No. 307,250. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RICHARD PRICE MOR- GAN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Dwight, county of Livingston, State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bailway- RailJoints, of which I do declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming part of this specification.

My present invention has relation to that class of railway-rail jointsin which a subrail is employed to support the abutting ends of thetrack-rails, and in which, also, suitable jaws are used for clamping theends of the track-rails to the sub-rail'by means of bolts that encirclethe jaws and pass through the webs of the track-rails and sub-rail. Anexample of this type of railway-rail is illustrated in Letters PatentNo. 297,283, granted to the Morgan Rail Joint Oompan y as my assigneeApril 22, 1884.

My present invention consists in the various novel features ofconstruction hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, and particularly pointed out in the claims at the end of thisspecification.

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of two abutting track-rails havingmy improved joint applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. l,but taken from the opposite side.

- track-rails A and A extends the sub-rail B,

a width greater than the width of the flanges of the track-rails, asmore particularly seen in Fig. 4, in order to permit the expanded endsof the sub-rail to be furnished with suitable slots 2, through whichwill pass the spikes S, that serve to firmly hold the subrail to thecross-ties. .By thus flattening the ends of the sub-rail B all necessityfor the cutting away of the upper face of the crossties is avoided, anda very material saving in expense is thereby secured; and by laterallyexpanding the ends of the sub-rail to such an extent as to give to theseends a width greater than the width of the superposed track-rails I notonly secure broad bearing ends, and thereby save the Wear upon the ties,but I am enabled, also, to provide the ends of the sub-rail with slotsfor the spikes, and thereby secure a much more eflective spiking of thesub-rail to the cross-ties than was possible with my prior construction,in which no such expansion of the ends of the sub-rail was made. Thebody of the sub-rail Bis also preferably formed with the somewhat squareor abrupt shoulders 19 which will bear against the sides of the ties T,and will thus serve to better maintain the track in position. Upon theflange b of the sub-rail and upon the flanges a of the track-rails areset the jaw pieces or blocks'D, that are furnished with suitable seatsor indentations d, to admit the flanges of both the track-rails and thesub-rail. The seats (I of the jaws D are formed with the bearingsurfaces(1' and d adapted to bear, respectively, upon the upper faces of theflanges of the track and sub rails, and it will be observed that theseats or indentations are formed of such depth as to leave a space 3adjacent the edges of the rail-flanges. My object in thus forming theseats or indentations d of the jaws D of such depth as to affordbearingfaces adapted to bind upon the flanges of the rail at somedistance from their extreme edges is to enable a more effective bindingof the railflanges together than is possible where the bearing of thejaws occurs at the extreme edges of the raihflanges, andin practice Ihave found that this feature is of material importance, since if thebinding of the jaws occurs at the extreme edges of the railflanges, andif the edges of the flanges be warped or rounded, as is frequently thecase, the tendency of the clamping action of the jaws upon one side ofthe rail-flanges is apt to cause a tipping or separation of the flangesupon the opposite side of the rail. Obviously this action will not occurwhen the binding of the jaws upon the rail-flanges is secured at a pointremote from the edges of the flanges. Moreover, by thus forming theseats of the jaws it becomes possible to tighten the binding action ofthe jaws upon the railflanges from time to time after weara pro-- visionthat could not so well be secured if the edge of the rail-flanges at theoutset completely filled the seats or indentations of the jaws.

The exterior surface of each of the jawpieees D is by preferenceprovided with a groove adapted to receive the curved portions of thestaples E, that encircle the jaw-pieces and pass through suitableopenings formed {for the purpose in the track-rails A and A and in thebody of the sub-rail B, and the upper ends of these staples also passthrough the alignment-bar F, that lies between the i treads and flangesof the tra ck-rails, while the lower ends of the staples are bypreference provided with suitable washers or thimbles G, beneath theouter flange of the sub-rail, suitable nuts upon the ends of the staplesserving to tightly bind the several parts in position.

By reference more particularly to Fig. 5 of the drawings it will beobserved that the jawpieces I), which serve to bind together thetrack-rail and sub-rail, have slightly-elliptical inner surfaces bearingupon these partsthat is to say, the binding-surfaces d and (l of thejaws are each formed upon an elliptical curve. The purpose of thusforming the bearing-surfaces of the jaw-pieces is to permita slightrocking motion of these pieces, as the ends of the track-rails are movedby the expansion and contraction incident to changes in temperature, andit is plain that as the jaw-pieces are thus allowed a slight rockingmotion the elliptical surfaces will at all times bear upon the flangesand maintain a uniform and close contact of the track-rail and of thesub-rail.

My purpose in employing the alignmentba'r F is not merely to guard thetrack-rails against lateral displacement, but is also to limit theextent of contraction and expansion of the track-rails, and for thisreason the openings f of the alignment-bar F, through which the staplesE pass, are made oblong and somewhat larger than the diameter of thebolts or staples E, so that when a con traction or expansion of thetrack-rail occurs the bolts or staples E will be free to move with thetrack-rails to the extent of the elongated slots or openings of thealignment-bar; but it is obvious that when the bolts or staples Econtact with the edges of the elongated slots or openings f furtherexpansion or contraction of the track-rails will be resisted.

An additional. important function performed by the alignment-bar in thepresent instance is that it secures a better action of theclamping-jaws, particularly when these jaws are formed with the curvedbearingsurfaces (1 and d since the alignment-bar serves to prevent thecontraction of either of the track-rails to such extent as would tend totwist the jaw-pieces D out of position, and, moreover, by reason of itslocation upon the side of the track-rails opposite the jawpieces ittends to hold the bolts or staples E in straight line with respect tothe j aw-pieces, so that a straight rocking movement of the jaw-piecesupon the rail-flanges is secured. In other words, when an alignment-baris not employed there is danger, under extreme contraction and expansionof the track-rails, that the upper ends of the bolts or staples E willbe so far drawn out of line with their lower ends as to twist thejaw-pieces upon the railflanges and thus destroy their effectiveacjtion.

It will be readily understood that the details of construction above setout may be varied without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, a hat I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, with thetrack-rails, of the sub-rail having theflattened ends to rest upon the cross-ties, substantially as described.

2. lhe combination, with the track-rails, of the sub-rail having themain body to rest between the cross-ties and having the flattened endsto rest upon the ties, said flattened ends being expanded, substantiallyas described.

3. The combination, with the track-rails, of the sub-rail having theflattened ends to rest upon the cross-ties, said flattened ends beingexpanded and provided with slots to receiy e spikes, substantially asdescribed.

4. The combination, with the track-rails, of

the sub-rail, the jaw-pieces, the staples passing through the sub-railand track-rails and over the jaw-pieces, and the alignment-bar betweenthe tread and flange of the trackrails upon the sides of the railsopposite the jaw-pieces, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with the track-rails, of the sub-rail, thejaw-pieces having elliptically curved bearing-edges d and d the bolts orstaples passing through the sub-rail and track-rails and over thejaw-pieces, and the alignment-bar between the tread and flange of thetrack-rails upon the side of said rails opposite the jawpieces,substantially as described.

RICHARD PRICE MORGAN.

Witnesses:

GEO. P. FISHER, J11, I. B. CARPENTER.

IIO

